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ICO Leader Letter

November 2010, Volume 7, Number 11

1. The Importance of Continuing Medical Education

The current rate of medical progress in information and technology means that even the best-trained practitioners can now be out of date in a short period of time.

For each of the world’s ophthalmologists to continuously upgrade their knowledge and skills requires active, individually focused continuing medical education (CME) programs as a part of continuous professional development (CPD) plans. It is for these reasons that each of us individually, our societies, our supranational organizations, and the ICO should do all we can to facilitate continuing medical education.

The ICO has begun to focus our energy and efforts in CME by working with our society members on the continuing education needs of individuals. We established the ICO Continuing Medical Education Task Force in 2008 to collaborate with our members and other societies and to support CME throughout the world.

Dr. Juan Verdaguer leads the ICO Task Force on CME, and he and the Task Force members have been very active. I hope you will find their initiatives (described below) to be informative and inspiring. Please get in touch with Dr. Verdaguer (juan.verdaguer.t@gmail.com) if you would like to get involved or learn more.

– Bruce Spivey, MD, ICO President

2. ICO Task Force Supports Local CME Efforts

The ICO Continuing Medical Education (CME) Task Force has been working to assist in the development CME programs worldwide since we established the Task Force in 2008.

After an initial survey of ophthalmologic societies’ CME activities, we asked them to name a CME Representative to work with the ICO. The survey results informed the activities of the Task Force, which now include collaboration with societies’ designated CME Representatives, a sample Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, the exploration of an accreditation mechanism for ophthalmologic society meetings, and our Visiting Professor Program.

Last March, we developed Continuing Professional Development: A Simplified Program to Monitor Individual CME Activities: http://icoph.org/downloads/ContinuingProfDevelMar2010.pdf (PDF – 143 KB).

This template is designed to be used and adapted by ophthalmologic societies who wish to develop continuing medical education systems. The ICO hopes the points system presented in this document can be a helpful example and that you will use it to encourage and assess CME activities in your region.

A Subcommittee of the CME Task Force chaired by Heather Mack, MBBS, PhD, is also working on an accreditation mechanism for international ophthalmologic meetings, on which I hope to share more news soon. Dr. Gabriel Coscas reports on the CME Task Force’s Visiting Professor program in article #3 below.

– Juan Verdaguer, MD, ICO CME Task Force Chair

3. ICO Visiting Professor Program

In 2009, from my home in Paris, I visited Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Mustapha in Algiers to share my knowledge and interface with trainees there. Taking local needs into consideration, the university, the local ophthalmologic societies and I created a program oriented to medical retina and macular diseases. My visit included courses, practical training, and the presentation and discussion of clinical cases for residents, fellows, assistant professors and private practitioners.

For more details on my visit, including many photographs, please download my June 2010 presentation: http://icoph.org/downloads/CoscasAlgeriaICOVisitingProfessor.pdf (PDF – 7.6 MB).

ICO Visiting Professors are ophthalmology faculty members or recognized experts who travel to an ophthalmological training institution to train and interact with local ophthalmologists.

In the past two years, the ICO has sent Visiting Professors to six different locations, with a focus on developing countries in Africa and Asia. Anthony Murray, MD, (Cape Town, South Africa) visited Moshi, Tanzania; Peter McCluskey, MD (Sydney, Australia) visited Hanoi, Vietnam; Francisco Contreras, MD (Lima, Peru) and Felipe Chiriboga, MD (Quito, Ecuador) visited Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Joseph Colin, MD (Bordeaux, France) visited Yaoundé, Cameroon; and in late 2010, Jan Pameijer (Rotterdam, Holland) will visit Ibadan, Nigeria.

The program has been supported by the ICOFoundation, and we plan to continue it in the coming years.

– Gabriel Coscas, MD, ICO CME Task Force Member

4. Helpful CME Resources

Below are a few resources that may be helpful for Continuing Medical Education.

• ICO Guidelines (Requirements) for Ophthalmic Society CME: http://icoph.org/CMErequirements.
  Countries that do not have CME programs in place may find these guidelines helpful in establishing formal CME programs.
• ICO Curriculum: Principles and Guidelines of a Curriculum for Continuing Medical Education in Ophthalmology: http://icoph.org/CMEcurriculum.
  This curriculum is presented not as a mandatory standard of training or practice, but as an educational tool and example.
• Continuing Professional Development: A Simplified Program to Monitor Individual CME Activities: http://icoph.org/downloads/ContinuingProfDevelMar2010.pdf (PDF – 143 KB).
  An ICO template designed to be used and adapted by ophthalmologic societies who wish to develop continuing medical education systems.
• Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCO) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program: http://www.rcophth.ac.uk/page.asp?section=108&sectionTitle=Continuing+Professional+Development+%28CPD%29
  This is an overview of the RCO’s program that was developed originally in 1996.
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada CanMEDS Framework: http://www.rcpsc.edu/canmeds/CanMEDS2005/index.php
  In 1996, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) adopted a framework of core competencies to include the different roles that physicians fulfill in their daily practice.
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) CPD Framework and Handbook: http://www.ranzco.edu/cpd2/ranzco-cpd-program
  This is a tool to develop a structured approach to planning Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
• American Academy of Ophthalmology’s O.N.E. Network: http://one.aao.org/
  The O.N.E. Network is a comprehensive educational online resource that is free for ophthalmologists in developing countries through their national societies. See http://www.aao.org/education/one_application.cfm for more information.

– Jean-Jacques DeLaey, MD, ICO Secretary General

5. History of International Ophthalmology and the ICO

The formal organization of international ophthalmology dates back to the first International Congress of Ophthalmology in 1857.  In the recently published International Ophthalmology 1982-2007, I tell the story of the last 25 years of international ophthalmology and the ICO, with contributions from ICO former Director for Fellowships Balder Gloor, MD, and former Director for Assessments Peter Watson, FRCOphth.

The book offers a condensed view of international ophthalmology preceding 1982, while focusing on key considerations and decisions since then at annual Council meetings, the development of the Assessments (now Examinations) and ICO Fellowship Programs, statutes, regulations, and other important milestones.  It also includes photographs of key ICO leaders, award winners, and Fellows over the years.

In the last 25 years, the ICO has been increasingly recognized as speaking for our profession throughout the world. We have laid the groundwork for improving the conditions for better eye care and I look forward to the progress we will surely make in the next 25 years.

To order a (free) copy of International Ophthalmology 1982-2007,  please complete the online form at: http://www.flippingpages.de/ico.  (Shipping is also free of charge.)

The books are available complements of the ICO and the International Ophthalmic Fellowship Foundation (IOFF), though donations are greatly appreciated. 

– G.O.H. ”Fritz” Naumann, ICO Immediate Past President

6. Join the ICO Online Community

• Find and connect with others who share your interests
• Support the worldwide effort to preserve vision/prevent visual loss
• Receive updates and information from the ICO
• Customize your content, rate and submit resources on the ICO Web site

Go to https://icoph.org/create_account.html to join us.

Upcoming ICO Meetings and World Ophthalmology Congresses

Conference for Ophthalmic Educators, Busan, Korea, April 12:
New Techniques to Enhance Teaching and Learning

• Register online to attend: icoph.org/rsvp/Busan

World Ophthalmology Congress Meetings

• WOC2014: Tokyo, Japan, April 2-6, 2014, www.woc2014.org
• WOC2016: Guadalajara, Mexico, February 5–9, 2016
• WOC2018: Barcelona, Spain (provisional selection, dates to be announced)

More News

For more news of the ICO and international ophthalmology and resources for ophthalmologic leaders, see the ICO Web site at www.icoph.org.

Request for Other News and Resources

Do you have other news of international ophthalmology or know resources (particularly on the Web) that would be valuable to ophthalmologic leaders? Please let us know at leader@icoph.org.

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